Crossing The Line
by Traw
Summary: He had stepped up to the very edge of the line of justice and wanted to cross over it. A 'Beautiful Screamer' epilogue.


AN- Part of this story is borrowed from the episode 'Beautiful Screamer'.

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_Hearing the terrified scream, Danny looked down at the kids standing near the lookout wall where Sally Gregson had told them to remain only a few short minutes earlier. "Stay here!" the young Five- O detective told them firmly before he turned and ran towards the narrow trail that led down the side of the volcanic crater._

_He was partly down the rough trail when he saw them. Walter, wearing similar blue rubber gloves to those he had worn when he had murdered Jane, holding his wife around the throat, strangling her. She was attempting to fight him off, but it was clear to the detective that the young woman was quickly losing the battle for her life._

_ Danny leaped, bodily slamming the construction boss onto the ground, knocking him away from his intended victim and pinning him to the ground. The two men fought in the soft sand, one to escape and the other to hold him down. Reaching for his gun in an effort to subdue the struggling man, the detective was barely able to clear it from his holster before Gregson grabbed his arm in an attempt to wrestle the lethal weapon away from him. The fight suddenly began a desperate struggle of life and death. They each fought for possession of the deadly weapon until the gun was knocked from Danny's hand, discharging as it hit the hard ground and dropping over the edge of the sheer cliff. Gregson's fist slammed into the young detective's jaw, knocking Danny backwards before he quickly climbed to his feet._

_Huddled on the cliff edge, the terrified woman watched fearfully as both men quickly regained their feet and began to trade punches. She gasped in horror and turned away, unable to watch as Walter picked up a thick branch and swung it at the detective's head. Danny managed to duck beneath the branch's deadly arc before he reached for her husband's arm and pulled it, overbalancing the older man. Taking advantage of the situation, he threw him bodily over his shoulder, slamming him hard to the ground._

_All the hurt, anger and pain that Danny was feeling bubbled to the surface as Gregson struggled back onto his feet. The grieving detective began to punch his fiancée's murderer again and again before finally grabbing Gregson's shirt by the collar, pulling him closer, and striking him with all his might. The hard blow knocked the construction boss backwards and Gregson staggered back, stepping into the empty space above the dizzying drop down to the bay. He managed to grab the crumbling edge halting his fall as his hands scrabbled for a more secure handhold._

_Exhausted and empty as his grief fuelled anger evaporated, Danny stood above Gregson, watching as the older man struggled to climb back onto the ledge. Part of him wanted to see Gregson fall, but deep down he knew that no matter what this man had done, he could not let him die._

_"Danno! Danno!" Kono's shout from somewhere behind him, snapped him out of his inaction and reluctantly he dropped to the ground and reached for Gregson's hand. _

_The rubber gloves the murderer was wearing made it difficult for him to get a firm grip and he struggled to maintain a hold on Gregson's hand as Gregson slipped further over the edge, pulling Danny with him._

_Panic and fear overwhelmed the dangling man and he suddenly released his tenuous hold of the crumbling soil and latched onto Danny's hand._

_Danny cried out in pain as his arm suddenly took the complete dead weight of fraught man and he could feel his arm begin to slide out of the shoulder socket as Gregson began to struggle, swinging above the abyss as he tried to climb detective's arm in a frantic bid to reach safety. Biting his bottom lip in determination, Danny stretched down as far as he could, his other hand just managing to snag the blue glove that Gregson was wearing as he felt himself slide in the rough grained sand, his head and chest dangling over the edge of the cliff._

_"Help me!" Gregson begged, staring up into Danny's face as he felt his hand slowly begin to slide out of Dan's tight grip, "Please don't let me die! Oh God, don't let me fall! "_

_"Hang on!" Danny gasped through clenched teeth as his shoulder and arm screamed in agony as he tried hard to maintain his hold on the rubber covered wrists. He knew he could not hold on to Gregson much longer and part of him was glad. Part of him wanted to let go...to allow Gregson to fall... to allow Gregson to die for what he did...  
_

_"I can't!" Gregson screamed as his hand slipped out of the gloves and he made a last desperate grab for his rescuer's hand as he felt himself begin to fall. His fingers briefly snagged Danny's wrist, pulling the Five-O detective further over the edge of the cliff before he lost the hold and fell, his screams echoing off of the cliff's wall before falling silent._

_"Grab him!" Sally's screamed as she saw the ground give way beneath the young detective and Dan begin to slide uncontrollably over the cliff's edge._

_Diving, Kono managed to grab Danny around the waist and pulled his colleague back to safety before helping him to sit up. "Are you ok, Danny?" he asked shakily as Danny slowly rose to his feet and stepped closer to the edge of the cliff to stare down at the floating body below. "Danny?"_

_"I killed him! I wanted him dead for what he did to Jane and now he is!" Danny smiled as he felt the satisfaction of taking Gregson's life._

Opening his eyes, Danny stared into the darkness of his room as he tried hard to slow his breathing as the last images of his nightmare slowly faded away. He ran a trembling hand through his sweat soaked curls as he slowly sat up in the bed, firmly reminding himself that as much as he had wanted to, he had not let Gregson fall, instead he had pulled him back to safety. He had saved the life of the man who had murdered the woman he loved and robbed him of his future with her, instead of taking it.

Drawing in a deep shuddering breath in an attempt to calm himself, he turned and looked at the illuminated numbers on the clock, sighing when he saw it was only 3 am. He knew from experience over the last several weeks since Jane's death, that no matter how hard he tried, he would not return to sleep so any attempts to do so would be useless.

He had his own private doubts that he would ever sleep easy again; the thought of just how close he had come to crossing the line and committing murder himself terrified him. Although Steve had reassured him afterwards that he could never cross that line, the fact that he had stepped to the very edge of it and wanted to step over, he was no longer so certain...


End file.
